When Society Fails to Catch Them: A Journey Through the Justice System That Shatters Preconceptions

This year, a school course gave me the opportunity to intern at the Judicial Reform Foundation. During my internship, I heard that my supervisor was going to take us to interview several experts in the correctional field, which was a very special activity for me.

The activity lasted for five days. Aside from visiting different prisons and talking with inmates, which sparked my intense curiosity about the system, having the chance to also interview experts in related fields alongside these prison visits was exceptionally rare.

Throughout the entire activity, my mind kept pondering: "How can we gain a deeper understanding of the final link in the operation of the judicial system?"

In my view, offender rehabilitation is closely intertwined with our lives; these individuals live right here in our society. However, on the path to rehabilitation, what they often encounter are obstructions of every kind.

Possessing the initial willingness to change and start anew, they may gradually have it worn down amidst social exclusion and stigmatization; alternatively, they may simply fail to adapt to society after release, leaving them with no choice but to return to the starting point of their crimes.

I believe this is a matter that everyone must pay attention to. None of us wish for the next crime to occur, yet we may inadvertently become the driving force behind the risk of recidivism. Enabling them to successfully return to society should be our shared expectation, and this has thus become the theme I valued most on this journey through justice. This time, I want to share a few interviewees who left a deep impression on me during the trip, as well as the reflections they brought me.

When Prison Becomes a Place That Strips Away Dignity, Can a Person Still Change?

On the first day, we interviewed Huang Tzung-min and Min-ru, experts in criminal psychology and offender treatment. Through our dialogue with them, I gained a vastly different perspective, one I had never deeply considered before. Specifically, whether an individual can maintain basic human dignity and social capacity is crucial to social reintegration.

However, this stands in stark contrast to mainstream society's imagination.

It is generally believed that inmates should live like hell in prison, with extremely harsh conditions in order to instill fear, genuine repentance, and prevent future crimes. But upon careful reflection, when inmates live in a highly militarized, dignity-deprived, and long-term repressed environment in prison—where their self-worth gradually erodes and their hearts are filled with inferiority and imbalance—returning to society with such a physical and mental state will inevitably make the path of reintegration even more difficult. Such a plight may instead become a potential factor of instability. Therefore, we must rethink the meaning of prison: is so-called "suffering" a limited undertaking of responsibility, or endless torture? Yet, clearly, current society is not truly prepared to think deeply about this issue, often merely blindly increasing sentences and attempting to respond to emotional drives with heavier punishments.

When Prisons Only Seek to "Avoid Incidents"......

Following the academic viewpoints, my supervisor led us to interview Ewam Lin, a frontline prison administrator. Through the interview, I truly felt the dilemmas currently faced by prisons and how many institutional designs are not genuinely centered on helping inmates.

Amidst a social atmosphere where inmates are demonized, a prison's highest priority is to "avoid incidents." Therefore, under high-pressure management, as long as inmates get used to prison life, are easy to manage, and meet administrative KPIs, the mission seems to be accomplished.

Such a reality feels perplexing and helpless, reflecting society's long-standing neglect of correctional issues.

Under the current system, let alone whether there can be a favorable transition environment after release, even adequate support inside the prison is not necessarily provided—so how can we expect them to seamlessly integrate into society?

However, Lin also raised a thought-provoking perspective. He believes that rather than merely emphasizing moral reformation, a "good environment" is an essential condition that allows inmates to calm down and truly engage in self-reflection. Yet, this idea stands in huge contrast to current public opinion. Most people may not be willing to accept the concept that "prisons should provide a relatively stable and respectful environment." But putting ourselves in their shoes, when we make mistakes, we also need a space that allows us to calm down and reorganize our thoughts; if we remain constantly in a chaotic and oppressive environment, how can we expect true reflection and change? Such thinking indeed differs greatly from my past understanding, and it made me more deeply comprehend the impact of environment on people, as well as the importance of maintaining dignity and social functioning for rehabilitation.

Rehabilitation Issues Have Never Been Merely Internal Prison Issues

Summarizing the interviews over these past few days, I deeply realized that many issues are not caused by a single facet. Especially when national systems are involved, various links are intertwined: prison environments, prison labor systems, social resource allocation, public opinion, and political operations are all interwoven together.

On the surface, rehabilitation issues seem to happen inside prisons, but their deeper roots actually lie in the choices of overall systems and social values. This requires long-term communication and attention. The reality is that only when the people are willing to care will the government truly attach importance and invest resources to improve the system.

For me, this journey through the justice system was immensely rewarding. It shattered my past one-sided imagination of prisons and made me realize the complexity and depth of institutional issues. Many issues need to be unpacked and understood layer by layer, rather than being led by emotions or ideologies. Maintaining calm and a pluralistic perspective is perhaps the most important attitude when facing social issues. This is also a topic that I believe the entire society should ponder together.